Archive for Sean

Chloë Sevigny has been trying to get a Lizzie Borden biopic off the ground since 2010, but after morphing from TV mini-series to big screen feature, her passion project finally premiered at Sundance back in January and now Saban Films and Roadside Attractions are bringing it to theatres next month. Lizzie stars Sevigny in the lead role as the notorious woman accused of killing her father and stepmother with an axe in 1892 Fall River, Massachusetts, while Kristen Stewart plays the family’s housemaid Bridget Sullivan with whom she had a relationship. Directed by Craig William Macneill (The Boy), the movie brings a feminist perspective to the true story although it is said to be a little more subtle and restrained than one might expect. Lizzie hits select theatres on Sept. 14th; check out the trailer after the jump and see what you think.

We first heard rumours a couple of months ago that there were multiple new Star Trek TV shows in development at CBS including one that would potentially bring back Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation. At the time, it was unclear just how far along the negotiations were and, let’s be honest, it seemed like it might actually be too good to be true. But this weekend, Stewart made a surprise appearance at the Official Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas where he confirmed that he had signed on for the show and that it is expected to debut in fall 2019. Here is Stewart’s full statement as it appeared on Instagram:

Tom Cruise maintained his grip on the box office over the weekend as Mission: Impossible – Fallout followed the franchise’s best opening weekend with its strongest second weekend as well. The movie added another $35 million domestically and has now reached $329 million worldwide despite having yet to open in a few major markets including China. In second place, Disney’s Christopher Robin opened with a slightly disappointing $25 million while The Spy Who Dumped Me was a distant third with $12.4 million. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and The Equalizer 2 rounded out the top 5. Elsewhere, the YA sci-fi thriller The Darkest Minds outright bombed, opening in eighth place with just $5.8 million. Although studios have not stopped trying to find the next Hunger Games, interest in YA adaptations seems to be on the decline.

With Mission: Impossible – Fallout expected to remain at the top of the box office this weekend, we have a handful of other new releases battling for second place. At the top of the list is Disney’s Christopher Robin, a live-action / CG hybrid take on Winnie the Pooh starring Ewan McGregor, but also not to be counted out is the R-rated action-comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me starring Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon. The other major releases are YA adaptation The Darkest Minds and the questionable political documentary Death of a Nation, which attempts to compare Donald Trump to Abraham Lincoln. Elsewhere Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade is also expanding nationwide and the Sundance stoner comedy Never Goin’ Back is debuting in select theatres. What will you be watching this weekend?

In honour of James Baldwin’s birthday, director Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) has released the very first trailer for his upcoming film If Beale Street Could Talk, an adaptation of Baldwin’s 1974 novel of the same name. The movie stars Kiki Layne and Stephan James as Tish and Fonny, a couple who fall in love in Harlem in the early ’70s before Fonny is falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit. The trailer doesn’t get much into the plot, preferring instead to show off James Laxton’s cinematography and just generally setting a mood. If Beale Street Could Talk will premiere at TIFF in September before hitting theatres on Nov. 30th and it seems like there is a good chance Jenkins will be in the Oscar race again this year. Check out the trailer after the jump and let us know what you think.

Although it was recently being reported that Lena Dunham and her writing / producing partner Jenni Konner are splitting up creatively, they still have another project that they developed together coming to HBO this fall. Camping is their follow-up to Girls and it is an eight-episode series that stars Jennifer Garner as a woman who organizes a camping trip for her husband’s 45th birthday. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the trip spirals out of control as tensions between old friends begin to rise. It is based on a British series of the same name and seems likely to be a single-season limited series. David Tennant, Janicza Bravo, Arturo Del Puerto, Brett Gelman, Juliette Lewis and Ione Skye co-star. Camping premieres on HBO on Oct. 14th; check out the teaser trailer after the jump and see what you think.

With Blumhouse Productions slowly becoming a household name and continuing to turn a tidy profit on their modestly budgeted genre movies, we are seeing some unexpected projects and partnerships develop as they build on that cachet. Just this year, for example, Blumhouse produced a brand new Benji movie and they have also been involved in several other non-horror movies like Sleight, Lowriders and Birth of the Dragon. Now this week Blumhouse is teaming up with Sony Pictures for a big screen version of the late ’70s / early ’80s TV series Fantasy Island. It may seem like a somewhat random property for Blumhouse to gravitate towards, but if you look at the premise of the show, it kind of falls within their wheelhouse. Hit the jump to find out what we know.

I’m sure this will surprise absolutely no one but it looks like the end is definitely nigh for MoviePass, the so-called “Netflix for movie theatres” subscription service. Over the past couple of months there has been a lot of talk about how the company is continuing to burn through money at an alarming rate and their stock has plummeted accordingly. With some 3 million users in the U.S. seeing a movie a day for $10 a month, that is probably to be expected. An attempted pivot into movie distribution was also unsuccessful, although their choice in movies (the recent John Travolta bomb Gotti, for example) may be part of the problem. This past Friday they were forced to borrow another $6.2 million in order to help keep the lights on. By all accounts, it appears to be desperate times and now MoviePass has introduced some changes to their monthly plan in order to help reduce their expenditures. But is it too little too late?

Over the last couple of years, Apple has slowly been getting into the original content game, putting a handful of projects into development in the hopes of eventually competing with Netflix and Amazon. The only ones that have actually seen the light of day so far are Planet of the Apps and Carpool Karaoke: The Series… neither of which were particularly well-received. However, there are some promising ones in the oven right now including Amazing Stories, Foundation and Little America not to mention new projects from M. Night Shyamalan and Damien Chazelle. Now they’ve got one more to add to the list: a TV series based on Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits. Hit the jump for more info.

It’s been a few years since we first heard that Elizabeth Banks had been hired to direct a big screen reboot of Charlie’s Angels, but at long last it appears that the project is finally ready to move forward. Last week Sony announced their new line-up of Angels and at the top of that list is a big name actress not necessarily known for action roles. Kristen Stewart will reportedly be headlining the film in her first major studio role since The Twilight Saga wrapped up in 2012. Hit the jump for more details.

After showcasing some new footage at Comic-Con a couple of weeks ago, Sony has finally unveiled a brand new Venom trailer for the rest of the world to see. The trailer features our best look yet (and best pronunciation yet) of the alien symbiote including some new glimpses of various action sequences. We also get a bit more of Riz Ahmed’s character, now confirmed to be the villain Riot. Is Carnage also in the movie? That remains unclear but it’s worth noting we still have yet to see Woody Harrelson in any of the marketing. Venom is directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Gangster Squad) and it hits theaters on Oct. 5th. Check out the new trailer after the jump and let us know what you think.